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Transportation

Bus-Melting Jet Cars Are Getting Scarce (wsj.com) 78

Posted by msmash from the door's-closing dept.
As racetracks close and old aircraft engines get harder to find, the crowd-pleasing spectacles are endangered. From a report: Magdatude is a 1946 Chevy pickup modified with a jet engine. It wasn't put there for speed. On a rainy September night, the truck rumbled onto the infield of the Rockford Speedway in Illinois, stopping with its business end about 10 feet from a junk minibus. The engine whined to life and shot a blast of fire from its afterburner, engulfing the bus until it was reduced to a charred metal skeleton. "There's nothing left of that thing!" the announcer shouted. "Holy cow!"

It was a textbook jet car meltdown, once a common spectacle at racetracks and drag strips. The fiery craft has become endangered as venues close, spare parts grow scarce and practitioners dwindle. "I think realistically there's going to be a few people that keep it alive," said Josh Baumgartner, Magdatude's owner. "We're hoping to be among them."

A former Navy mechanic named Doug Rose helped to popularize meltdowns after he created a dragster using a jet engine from a scrapyard. According to his widow, Jeanne, he conducted his first fire show around 1968 with a car he named the Green Mamba. Over the years, he honed his craft until he could torch a half-dozen vehicles at once. "Doug's objective was to please the people," she said.
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Bus-Melting Jet Cars Are Getting Scarce More

Bus-Melting Jet Cars Are Getting Scarce

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  • Gay clickbait (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward
    Nothing will save this site

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by Anonymous Coward

      News for rednecks, stuff that burns.

    • Re: Gay clickbait (Score:2, Insightful)

      by FudRucker ( 866063 )
      i am gay and i resent that statement, gays are environmentally conscientious and do not condone wasting fuel to amuse a crowd of beer drinking idiots
      • If only that were true. Sadly, there are those that still think climate change is a hoax or too costly to worry about, even though not dealing with it is much more costly to all of us. You may be the majority with the predominate view, but like every other group, there isn't one viewpoint.

      • i am gay and i resent that statement, gays are environmentally conscientious and do not condone wasting fuel to amuse a crowd of beer drinking idiots

        I don't know what it's like elsewhere, but here in Florida we most certainly do get coal rollin' redneck gays, too. It's almost as if the whole same-sex attraction thing is really only one aspect of a person's personality.

        That being said, this gay dude still isn't going anywhere near a burning bus because there's no way I'm exposing myself to all those damn cancer fumes.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Dusanyu ( 675778 )
        I came here for a comment like this glad I was not disappointed. it is almost funny how classist stuff like this is upvoted on slashdot.

  • Oh dang... (Score:5, Funny)

    by The-Ixian ( 168184 ) on Monday December 11, 2023 @10:26AM (#64073297)

    I guess you will have to fall back to just torching busses with flame throwers... What a sad era we are marching toward...

  • I'm over here riding a bicycle (Score:5, Funny)

    by TheNameOfNick ( 7286618 ) on Monday December 11, 2023 @10:40AM (#64073359)

    so you can burn buses for show with my CO2 budget, and now you can't because you're out of jet engines. Commiserations.

  • Old Turbojets are becoming rare. (Score:5, Informative)

    by Virtucon ( 127420 ) on Monday December 11, 2023 @10:49AM (#64073381)

    This phenomenon thrived off of war surplus turbojets, now more museum pieces than kinetic art. Mechanics and parts are also becoming scarce likewise are the venues for contraptions that marry an old GE J47 with a School Bus or a tube chassis-based flamethrower. We should also consider it a sad loss because we lose people willing to take the risk. Not long ago, one of the crowd-pleasing favorites, Shockwave, suffered a massive crash killing the driver. [wikipedia.org] My sons used to love watching that truck go past as it raced some old warbird or stunt plane down a runway. Yes they're dinosaurs, they burn tons of fuel in a spectacle that most don't understand and that's a sad thing too.

    • Re:Old Turbojets are becoming rare. (Score:4, Insightful)

      by Ol Olsoc ( 1175323 ) on Monday December 11, 2023 @11:27AM (#64073525)

      This phenomenon thrived off of war surplus turbojets, now more museum pieces than kinetic art. Mechanics and parts are also becoming scarce likewise are the venues for contraptions that marry an old GE J47 with a School Bus or a tube chassis-based flamethrower. We should also consider it a sad loss because we lose people willing to take the risk. Not long ago, one of the crowd-pleasing favorites, Shockwave, suffered a massive crash killing the driver. [wikipedia.org] My sons used to love watching that truck go past as it raced some old warbird or stunt plane down a runway. Yes they're dinosaurs, they burn tons of fuel in a spectacle that most don't understand and that's a sad thing too.

      It's rather odd that some here on /. considers this not only not news, but have a rather bigoted response regarding the people who do this sort of thing - perhaps they might do a little introspection.

      Yes, there are indeed some idiots at the drag strip - well, there are some idiots everywhere.

      However, as a person who rode motocross, and drag raced both motorcycles and cars, I have to note that it's just another form of entertainment, and very technical entertainment at that. And trying to put it as gently as possible - those people that work on and maintain these vehicles - well, most are pretty darn adroit, and I've known plenty pf programmers that aren't all that. So not many here should feel too superior, because they aren't.

      Anyhow, it was very fascinating to see these jet cars go. One of my favorites was the race-offs between a jet engine on wheels, powered by thrust only, and one that was attached to a transmission. The trannyjet would be a good way down the track, and the pure thrust jet was just moving, but accelerated like crazy. They were pretty evenly matched, so it was never a given who would win.

      I recall that the first time the thrust jet kicked in the afterburners while I was near, I actually experienced synesthesia - I saw concentric rings as my aural systems were overloaded. That was the last time I was around them without ear protection.

      Otherwise, I just stuck to my N-stock car, and had fun with my nitro-bike.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by dargaud ( 518470 )
        I don't know how they expected large truck tires to withstand speeds of 500km/h...
        Anyway, near my house there's a small ice racing circuit, it used to be packed with people during the short racing week. But 2 or so years ago they shifted to electric car racing. This year there were NO spectators. At all. So it means that the spectators don't come for the actual racing but just for the noise. This might explain some of the disdain you see on this site. While I can certainly respect the highly skilled mechan

        • I don't know how they expected large truck tires to withstand speeds of 500km/h... Anyway, near my house there's a small ice racing circuit, it used to be packed with people during the short racing week. But 2 or so years ago they shifted to electric car racing. This year there were NO spectators. At all. So it means that the spectators don't come for the actual racing but just for the noise. This might explain some of the disdain you see on this site. While I can certainly respect the highly skilled mechanics who work on those vehicles, I don't have much respect for people who just come to hear the wroom wroom. Synesthesia or not ;-P

          Could mean a lot of things.

          But sound is a big part of the experience, kind of like how going to a concert. So yes, Electric cars will change the experience.

          Perhaps a more apt comparison is rocket launches. Imagine if they were silent or nearly so. When I've been to Canaveral for launches there is a whole spectrum pf people in attendance to watch and listen. A lot of engineers, and those low class people you have no respect for.

          And each launch is different. Falcon 9's with their yellow exhaust flame -

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by dargaud ( 518470 )
            I was just trying to put into words the 'why'.
            As for rocket launches, yes I totally wish I could see (and hear) that. I was somewhat near to sitting *in* one, once being in the 30 finalists for astronaut selection...

            • I was just trying to put into words the 'why'. As for rocket launches, yes I totally wish I could see (and hear) that. I was somewhat near to sitting *in* one, once being in the 30 finalists for astronaut selection...

              Bummer on not getting to the final group. I'll bet it was an experience of a lifetime even as such!

              • Re: (Score:2)

                by dargaud ( 518470 )
                Yup, it was great, the selection process was fascinating. Not as fun as shown in 'The right stuff' but very interesting nonetheless, like being driven in a bus downtown while having to solve problems on a laptop. The winner did a great comic book [amazon.com] about it (don't know if it's available in english)
                What pissed me off was that the 1st call was for a 30 to 40 age range and I was too young (28 or 29), the 2nd was the same range and I was 41, and the most recent was 30 to 50 and guess what, I was 51. Still was al

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by wv5k ( 771543 )
        What I wouldn't give for mod points today. Your post revived some ancient memories... ;-)

    • This phenomenon thrived off of war surplus turbojets, now more museum pieces than kinetic art.

      I was wondering about this. Thing is, I can find lots of YouTube videos of model aircraft people making jet-powered F-14 models and the like. I get the impression hobby-scale jet engines are relatively straightforward to buy (they're about the size of an oatmeal canister).

      You're not going to set anything on fire except your garage. Not a bus. But dang, they sound amazing

      .

      • You won't find a lot of "how-tos" on plumbing a war surplus engine, control mechanisms, fueling, how not to blow yourself up, etc. It was done because Harry down the street used to be a mechanic on F86s and B-52s. To be sure, there are manuals in the Smithsonian and on Archive.org GE J47 Manual circa 1955 [archive.org] if you want to scale up that F14 model you have in the garage. Oh and have really deep pockets for starters.

        • You won't find a lot of "how-tos" on plumbing a war surplus engine, control mechanisms, fueling, how not to blow yourself up, etc. It was done because Harry down the street used to be a mechanic on F86s and B-52s.

          Interesting point. Is it the engines or engine mechanics which are the limiting factor?

          However, my point was really that at least hobby-scale jet engines are relatively easily available. I would have thought larger (albeit perhaps not bus-melting scale) ones would be too. And yeah, if you want a cheap hobby, buy a vineyard in Napa.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by hoofie ( 201045 )

        Hobby jets are more akin to a 1950s early turbojet. They aren't axial flow engines like a modern jet engine and no-one sells one with reheat or an afterburner because of the complexity and the fact it would gulp fuel so fast to make it pointless.

        • Hobby jets are more akin to a 1950s early turbojet. They aren't axial flow engines like a modern jet engine...

          Are they? Not being an aerospace nerd, I wouldn't notice the difference. I'll have to go back and check. From what I remember (I saw them a few years ago), they looked axial to me.

          ..and no-one sells one with reheat or an afterburner because of the complexity and the fact it would gulp fuel so fast to make it pointless.

          Is that what you need to melt a bus? I could believe that. I can also believe no one in the hobby world wants or needs that. Well, I'm sure some whack job with too much money and time wants to make an afterburning F-16 model just to say they did. And I totally want to see the video.

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by Tablizer ( 95088 )

      > war surplus turbojets...parts are also becoming scarce

      They only have to run say 10 minutes per show. That shouldn't wear them out too quick. Are they pushing them beyond a natural range? If so, just dial back say 15% so it lasts longer.

    • >> Shockwave, suffered a massive crash killing the driver.
      Did this guy get a Darwin award ?

  • So I'm seeing A LOT of content being posted that's behind subscripting services. This WSJ article, NYT and Financial Times and others. Can we please stop posting any thing that links to a paywalled article? Otherwise it really feels like /. is just an advertising medium for these places.

  • Made me laugh. Nice to see a headline that doesn't make me worry.
  • Funny and all, until a decade later you get cancer and don't know why. Short list of stuff that is found in a bus and causes problems when lit on fire: Plastic Components: Seating, paneling, and dashboard controls. Burning these plastics can release a range of toxic compounds, including polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), dioxins, and furans, many of which are known carcinogens. Rubber and Synthetic Materials: Tires and other rubber components, when burned, release a variety of hazardous substances.

  • Despite all the smart-ass replies here? (Score:4, Interesting)

    by King_TJ ( 85913 ) on Monday December 11, 2023 @12:04PM (#64073667) Journal

    I agree that this is one of those things that's sad to see disappearing, if only because it means we're finally running out of still-operational wartime surplus jet engines usable for projects like this.

    I've been a long-time performance car enthusiast, yet I never really got that interested in the commercial races on tracks. I finally attended my first Indy race back in August because the car dealer gave me some free passes. First thing to note? Free tickets don't mean it'll be anywhere near free to attend! Parking in a dirt lot, far from the track, cost me $20 cash (no cards accepted). But yeah - whole thing was, honestly, a little boring. I always heard the stories of how it was "one huge party" with crazy drunk people all around, etc. I think that might still be the case for the people who opt to camp out nearby or in the spaces they let people rent for the weekend inside the center of the track. But in the stands, it's mostly families with a lot of people taking their young kids. The cars go by so fast, it's hard to keep track of who is in what position without consulting the boards displaying the stats. And sadly, the only thing that really breaks the monotony of all of them zipping past you in the oval they're going around are the wrecks. Some of the die-hard enthusiasts rent out scanners so they can listen to the drivers talking to the pit crew, and I can see how that makes it a little easier to get into it. But all in all? I completely get how most people would be more entertained by a spectacle like a rocket car burning up some "destined for the junk yard" scrap vehicle, or doing interesting stunts.

    • If it's really that uninteresting, rather than keeping it alive with jet-engine-bus-melting spectacles, it seems better to just let the whole thing fade away. If people are interested and want to spend their time and money on car racing I think that's fine (though we really should be applying carbon taxes & tariffs to everything that emits CO2) but if not, let it go.

    • I went to a NASCAR race once. Never felt compelled to go back.

      I go to local track races. $30 for everything all day including the parking, close-up action, actual "huge party" atmosphere, you can often talk to drivers and other crew members about geek stuff, and there's usually more than one race event on the schedule. Small tracks often finish up with a demolition derby or other novelty events, too. Great fun!

  • The New Cold War between the US and China will solve this by funding vast investment in exotic weapons technologies, most of which will be completely impractical, leaving a new set of cool surplus equipment for 21st century tinkerers.

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by Tablizer ( 95088 )

      "RocketGPT burns woke EV bus and electric stove using hypersonic missile engine from Wuhan Labs!"

      Red staters would pay big money for that.

  • Get a junkyard Tesla, charge it up, puncture the lithium battery with the redneck weapon of your choice (50 cal would be awesome), let the meltdown commence and watch the crowd go wild. Offer a raffle for the one that gets to "pull the trigger". Yeehaw!

  • In the meantime, there's no shortage of racetrack fun, like this [youtube.com] of a Mustang GT hitting the wall while trying to race a C7 Corvette. Noting one sarcastic commentator, "Wow I've never seen a Mustang lose control."

    Associated article: Ford Mustang vs C7 Corvette Drag Race Ends, How Else, With the Mustang in the Wall [thedrive.com].

  • I'd love to see a jet burn a bus up, but what an environmental disaster that is. I'm surprised it's allowed at all. Not something I'd pay to see or would want to be downwind of.

  • > as venues close, spare parts grow scarce and practitioners dwindle...

    WTF is on their business card? "School Bus Fryer"? Try to get past airport security with that. Even if you show them a video to explain, they'll still probe your rump for safe measure.

  • Green destruction (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward
    The real shame is the constant pressure the EPA is putting on all sectors of the aftermarket car market. They won't be happy until they make it fully illegal to modify a car for racing. They've already implemented rules (without a vote from the people) that any car or engine with a serial number is illegal to modify for any use whatsoever. Want to modify it and use it as a ranch car? Fuck you EPA says you broke the law. Check out the RPM act, which failed unfortunately, as it has a lot more details.

    Land d

  • Life Pro Tip (Score:3)

    by A10Mechanic ( 1056868 ) on Monday December 11, 2023 @03:42PM (#64074327)
    LTP: Don't engage the giant flame shooting afterburner on the jet truck adjacent to the front of an aircraft hanger with the doors open. The hanger will angrily deploy the AFFF foam, ensuing an I-Love-Lucy episode of epic scale and size as the hanger fills 10 feet deep in suds. I laughed so hard I almost cried.

  • There were multiple racing outfits chasing jet cars a few years back.
    They stopped after a rash of deaths in the field.

    A couple of which pulled out when a common company rep DIED during competition.

    Here's one groups.

    https://youtu.be/5jjq07vmB0o?s... [youtu.be]

  • Drive-ins, airsoft, malls, mini-golf, mini race tracks, Champ Car racing, drinking fountains, parks, neighbors who talk, truth, and actually liberal liberals opposed to book bans and censorship.

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